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“You have to!” Kilian interjected. “Jonah is coming too, and I don’t want to be the fifth wheel.”

“I don’t know anyone.”

“You know Alex!” Kilian laughed. “Come on! It’ll be fun!”

“Can we leave already?” I asked, glancing around the gallery. There weren’t many visitors left.

“The place closes in half an hour. So, yeah.”

“All right,” I said, not feeling like going home just yet. Plus, I really needed to eat; the dizziness was getting to me. After saying goodbye to Nico and Hector, I headed out onto the street, where Kilian was already waiting with two guys.

“This is Lucien,” he introduced me to the honey-blond painter.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand.

“And this is Jonah.”

“Hi.” Jonah greeted me with an outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you.”

With his Western Swiss dialect, open smile, and big brown eyes, he was instantly likable.

“Okay, we’re ready,” announced Alex, who came out of the gallery with the long-haired rocker. “Dominic, this is Noé.”

“Hi.”

Noé only nodded at me, his hands full with a guitar case and a backpack. He had caught my attention in the exhibition earlier, giving off a bit of a reserved vibe, but now, as he smiled at me, he seemed pretty nice.

“Okay, let’s go,” the rocker exclaimed with enthusiasm. “I’m starving.”

The man spoke to my soul, and I let out a chuckle as I joined the group.

7

–––––

Kilian

I didn’t like watching Dominic talk to Alex while we were strolling through Zurich with our group of six. The two of them clearly knew each other from somewhere, but when I asked Dominic about it again right before we left the gallery, he just shrugged and made a vague, non-committal sound, as if he had no idea where he’d met Alex.

I was well aware that I was showing some rather absurd signs of jealousy, especially since Alex was with that rocker guy, but it drove me crazy not knowing what was happening between him and Dominic.

“You’ve made some progress,” Noé said as he walked beside me, with his guitar case and backpack slung over his shoulder.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he came along,” he said, nodding toward Dominic, who was trailing about ten feet behind us with Alex. Good grief! They were even talking so quietly that we couldn’t catch a single word.

“They must know each other from somewhere,” I remarked.

“Looks like it,” Noé agreed.

Asking Noé if it bothered him would be pointless. He just smiled and seemed to be enjoying my … oh, fuck … yeah, my jealousy.

“So, what about this place?” Jonah asked, stopping in front of the Piadina Bar.

“Great idea,” Noé said as he entered the bistro without waiting for anyone’s opinion.

Lucien chuckled and followed him inside. “The man must be starving.”